Chapter 1: The Bet

Alice went to the changing room and changed into her racing attire. After that, she made her way to the break room, then found Sugimoto lazing around on the sofa, playing his phone.

Alice glares at him before confronting, "Well, well, well. Isn't it ironic that my so-called Senpai is lazing on the couch and NOT getting ready for training?"

Sugimoto glanced at her before returning back to his screen, "Hmm? Yeah, I'll do that in an hour or so." He said casually.

Alice stared at him as he just lies there on the sofa without a care in the world. A small vein formed on Alice’s head before she continues confronting him.

"Seems like somebody doesn't take his career seriously, huh?"

Sugimoto ignores her and continues to scroll on his phone. This enraged Alice, in which she walked out slamming the door behind her. To relieve her stress, she went out of the garage and began warming up.

"That Senpai of mine is such a lazypants, he’s supposed to guide me! Too bad for him since I'm going to prove my worth here!" She mutters to herself.

As Alice was doing her warm-ups, the manager came to inspect the team and saw her outside the garage.

"You seem quite eager, Alice." The manager told.

Alice smiled at the manager and stood up to meet him. "Well, I have to be ready for anything, right? Unlike that sad excuse of a Senpai over there." She points at the break room, the loud snoring could be heard from the outside.

"That's just his way of preparing, I guess. Just let him be for now." The manager sighed.

Alice looks frustrated by Sugimoto's attitude and the manager could tell that it’s getting on her nerves. There, he decides to distract her and show her something else instead.

"Hey, want to see what you will be driving?"

Alice perked up, excited to drive, "Sure, I was curious about what I would drive for the team."

"Alright then, follow me." The manager leads the way.

Alice followed him as he brought her to the front of the pit lane. There, her eyes widened as she saw the car parked in front of the pit lane’s garage.

It was a clean blue BMW M6 GT3 with no sponsors nor stickers on it. It’s wing, side skirt and hood was carbon fiber, and the 13 inch blacked out rims compliments the exterior.

She began inspecting the car's exterior and interior.

"It’s a BMW M6… It's the GT3 version as well! Where did you buy this manager?" She asked in a curious tone.

"An old friend of mine wanted to sell this barely used car after he bought another track car. I decided to pick up on that offer and bought it for dirt cheap." He told proudly,

"Damn manager, that's a good find."

Whilst Alice was walking checking the interior through the window, the manager shouted at her, "Catch!"

The manager threw the key towards her and Alice caught them, stumbling slightly before standing back straight up. She looked at the key and saw the BMW logo on it; Its metallic logo reflects the sunlight into Alice’s eyes.

"R-Really? You're letting me drive this?"

The manager nodded “Why else did I sign you?” He simply replied. There, Alice smiled widely. She climbed into the seat and turned on the ignition. The car's dashboard lights up and the engine starts, she gives it a few small revs, and the engine roars loudly.

"Woah, the engine sounds nice." She muttered to herself as she admired the car.

After holding the car's steering wheel, she suddenly began massively adjusting the seat and the steering wheel height to her preference. Alice was a bit shorter than her peers in high school. The manager noticed her adjusting things in the driver's seat and decided to check in on her.

"Doing alright in there?" The manager asked her, looking a bit anxious by all the commotion in the car.

"Y-Yeah! Just adjusting a bit." She told the manager as she was adjusting everything.

"J-Just a bit, huh?" The manager awkwardly watched her.

As Alice was still feeling the revs of the car, she got slightly confused with a certain thing and decided to ask the manager.

"Wait... Why did you give me a key? These types of cars doesn’t have a keyhole..."

The manager shrugs and casually told her.

"For symbolic reasons."

Alice looks at him, a bit dumbfounded but she didn't press on.

"Ah... I see... Whatever, I'm going for a drive then."

”Good luck!”

After adjusting everything to her liking, she began driving off onto the Akinabalu circuit for a test drive.

The M6 zig-zags across the circuit, warming up its tires whilst she experiments with the car’s balance. After doing a full warm-up lap, she starts to push as she enters sector 1.

“4 sectors of the Akinabalu circuit… Let’s see how you will hold it up M6.” She muttered.

The engines roars down the straight, passing the pit lane entry on the right hand side of the track. This is Sector 1 of the Akinabalu circuit. Alice follows the racing line, going to the left hand side of the track. She glances to her dashboard as she crosses the starting line, seeing the timer starts back at 0:00, indicating the start of her official push lap. As she approaches the corner, she stomps on the breaks and trail-brakes into the corner with precision. Going into Sector 2.

Upon entering Sector 2. She began navigating along the infamous triple hairpins. The sounds of the wheel screeching as she carefully enters each corner was music to her ears. The M6 hugged the outside part of the track, entering each corner with precision in order to not lose time.

Alice now finds herself on Sector 3 of the Akinabalu track. Which consists of 2 long straights and a chicane. The first straight leads to a high elevation push, whilst the second one leads to a downhill battle, Alice pushed the pedal to the metal. She smirked as she saw the needle of the speedometer slowly rises, feeling the raw speed of her car. The chicane slowly crept up in front of her, she must do this precisely or risk slamming into the walls of tires ahead of her. She brakes into the corner, turning her car, trying to go smoothly through the chicane, before continuing her journey on the second straight. With her foot back on the gas, she navigates the M6 to the left hand side of the track. The car surged in higher speeds thanks to the drop in elevation of the second straight. Adrenaline was pumping in her veins as she prepares herself to enter the right hand corner onto Sector 4.

The final sector was fast approaching. This is the trickiest and most technical sector of the Akinabalu Circuit. Alice precisely braked into the first corner of the track. The brake pads of her car lit up by the constant braking. The M6 turns with Alice’s input and hits the apex, the optimal line. She looked ahead and tried to memorise the turns of each corner. This sector consists of a S-curve and a long C-curve that ends in a final chicane that connects to Sector 1. The M6 navigates the twist and turns of Sector 4, following the optimal line. She enjoys throwing the car into each of the corners.

She now finds herself on the final section of Sector 4, The final chicane of the Akinabalu circuit. Its unique design has sparks debate amongst drivers on which line was optimal. But many preferred the classic outside-inside strategy. Alice, uses the same strategy and hits the final apex of the track, before punching the pedal through sector 1 again, crossing the finish line. Alice breathes slightly, feeling a bit proud. But she knew she could do better than that.

Alice continued to drive around the track a few times and began testing the brake zones of the car. She quickly got used to the car and started doing a few laps around the track. After a while, she drove back to the pits and saw the manager standing in front of the pit garage.

"So how was it?" the manager asked her.

"The car felt amazing manager! Thanks for letting me drive!" She said while feeling the steering in the car.

"I'm glad to hear that, sadly this car isn't as modern as the other cars in our category."

"I don't mind, the M6 is a great car!" She reassured the manager.

Alice got out of the car and stretched her arms. While stretching, she notices another car under a sheet inside of the pit stop’s garage.

"Hey, manager, who's car is that?" She said as she pointed towards it.

"Ah that's Sugimoto's car, let me uncover it real quick."

The manager went over to the car and pulled the cover off, revealing a polished blacked out Porsche 911 GT3 RS (992).

"T-That's Senpai's car?" Alice mutters, feeling awed and intimidated at the same time.

”Yup, we just got this bad boy a year ago. Now it’s registered and we can officially start using it for track racing.” He said with confidence.

Alice began looking around the car and admired it while touching its rear wing. As she was inspecting the interior, Sugimoto approached them after he awakened from his nap.

"How was your rest, Sugimoto?" The manager asked while smiling.

"Sup chief, it was a good nap,"

"Looks who finally woke up, slept like a pig senpai?" Alice teased him.

It seems that Alice and Sugimoto still aren't in terms with each other yet. As they were glaring at each other, Sugimoto looked towards her car and chuckled.

"So you're going to drive in that tin can, huh?" Sugimoto said teasingly.

Alice sneered upon hearing that, she crosses her arms and looked directly at him, "Heh, I bet this tin-can could whoop your sorry butt!"

Sugimoto was surprised by her attitude and felt fired up. He crunches his fingers and told her confidently, "Y'know, even without a warm-up I could always beat you in a race, kid."

"Are you challenging me senpai? Cause to me it feels like you're challenging me to a one-on-one race." She asked in a competitive tone.

"You bet I am! I'm going to smoke that sorry excuse of a car of yours." Sugimoto said confidently.

"You're on Senpai!" She became riled up

The manager backed up and watched them fight from afar. Their rivalry went from zero to a hundred really quickly. Alice and Sugimoto stared into each other’s eyes, flames coming out of them. After their intense stare down, Alice proposes something to him.

"Hey senpai, how about we put a little wager on this race of ours?" Alice told Sugimoto.

"A bet, huh? I gladly accept." He said with full confidence.

"Alright then, if I win, you would first stop calling me a kid. Then, be my servant for the rest of the week."

"Sure, but if I win. You'll have to mop the floors for the rest of the month." He chuckled slightly, his confidence was huge.

Alice thought for a few moments, she began seeing the pros and cons of the bet. On one hand, she could have a personal butler, on the other hand, he gave a bet that could tarnish her dignity. After a few seconds, she reluctantly agrees.

"Alright, it's settled. The first one to cross the finish line after three laps wins the bet!" Alice told Sugimoto confidently.

"Alright deal!" Sugimoto said agreeing to the bet.

They glared at each other once more before going to their respective cars and starting their engines. Alice and Sugimoto put on their helmet and gloves and began driving toward the starting line. Alice parked at position one while Sugimoto parked at position two on the grid. The manager, using his transponder began communicating with them through his headset.

"I want a clean race from both of you. There will be 3 laps in this race so make every second count. The first to cross the finish line wins, are you ready?" The manager told them.

"You bet I am!" Sugimoto told him through the radio.

"Yes sir!" Alice told the manager on the radio as well.

As the drivers mentally prepare for the race, Alice decides to give him the old fashioned trash-talk for a bit.

"Hey gramps, try not to get lost on the way there okay?" Alice said mockingly.

Sugimoto chuckles slightly, "Heh, you know what kid, I'm feeling a bit generous today. I'm going to give you a 5-second head start." Sugimoto told her confidently giving himself a handicap

"Hah! An easy victory for me! You better not regret it Senpai!" She told Sugimoto.

There, Alice began internally speaking to herself, "Though I might have a 5-second advantage, he's still driving a 911 GT3 RS, a car capable of going in high speeds. I need to extend the lead as much as I can before he catches up to me…" She mentally told herself.

The manager monitors their times and began communicating with the drivers using the radio.

"We're going on go, got it?" The manager told them.

The drivers agreed and could feel the intense atmosphere as they waited for the manager to begin the countdown.

"3"

Alice checks her mirror looking at his car behind her. She sees the black Porsche, making her feel intimidated.

"2"

Sugimoto looks at her car in front of him. He could hear the blue BMW revving up.

"1"

Alice gripped her steering wheels and a slight grin formed.

"Go Go Go!" The manager yells into the mic, indicating the start of the race.

Alice's wheel spun and left a trail of smoke behind her, Sugimoto waited for a full 5 seconds before launching his car and began chasing after her.